Christopher Clark and team receive 2008 UNHCR Nansen Award
GENEVA, October 6, 2008— The UN Mine Action Coordination Centre of South Lebanon, which led the international effort to clean up deadly cluster munitions threatening the lives of civilians in southern Lebanon after the 2006 conflict with Israel, received here today the UN High Commissioner for Refugees' top honor—the Nansen Refugee Award.
Christopher Clark, who heads the UN Mine Action Coordination Centre of South Lebanon, accepted the award from UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres on behalf of all UN and nongovernmental organization staff involved in the removal destruction of cluster munitions.
The Nansen Refugee Award is given annually to an individual or organization for outstanding work on behalf of refugees. It includes a $100,000 prize, which the winner may donate to a cause of his or her choice.
The award is named after Nobel Peace Laureate Fridtjof Nansen, who was the first High Commissioner for refugees. Previous recipients of the Award include Eleanor Roosevelt, King Juan Carlos I of Spain, and Queen Juliana of the Netherlands.
Clark, the UN Mine Action Coordination Centre of South Lebanon, and 1,000 deminers were selected for the Award for their courageous efforts to clear southern Lebanon of the cluster munitions and other explosive remnants of war that impeded the safe return of civilians uprooted during the conflict. "Through their painstaking work and devotion, the teams created the conditions for a safe and dignified return home for almost 1 million displaced Lebanese," Guterres says.
In a letter to Clark, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon wrote, "Thanks to the work of the Mine Action Coordination Centre, thousands of displaced civilians were able to return home, and urgently needed humanitarian relief was able to reach communities severely affected by the 2006 conflict. Your work has helped to ease tremendous suffering on the part of Lebanese civilians."
Clark credited the success of the effort to the generous support from 22 donor countries and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, which together provided about $38 million through the Voluntary Trust Fund for Assistance in Mine Action in support of the cluster munitions clean-up effort since August 2006. These donors are: Australia (US$2.04 million), Austria (US$527,000), Canada (US$6.24 million), Chile (US$50,000), Czech Republic (US$150,416), Denmark (US$2.96 million), Estonia (US$25,042), Finland (US$1.32 million), Germany (US$1 million), Human Security Trust Fund/Japan US (US$1.92 million), Ireland (US$328,285), Italy (US$4.09 million), Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (US$500,000), Luxembourg (US$128,140), the Netherlands (US$5.19 million), New Zealand (US$661,863), Republic of Korea (US$200,000), Spain (US$1.16 million), Switzerland (US$941,385) United Arab Emirates (US$1.5 million), the United Kingdom (US$5.04 million), United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (US$100,000), and the United States of America (US$2 million).
The United Arab Emirates has since 2001 contributed more than $70 million for mine action in southern Lebanon, and a portion of this amount has been applied toward recent cluster munitions removal. The General Assembly approved additional funding of about $5 million in support of UNIFIL. The European Union and seven donor countries provided support directly to clearance operators.
The Mine Action Coordination Centre of South Lebanon coordinates mine action operations of nongovernmental organizations, commercial companies, the Lebanese Armed Forces and the UN peacekeeping mission—UNIFIL. The Centre is overseen by the New York-based United Nations Mine Action Service in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations' Office of Rule of Law and Security Institutions. The Centre's work is executed in partnership with the United Nations Office for Project Services.
For more information, contact: Richard Kollodge, United Nations Mine Action Service, New York, Tel. +1-212 963-5677, e-mail: kollodge@un.org; Safak Pavey, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Geneva, Tel.+41-78 7746904, e-mail: pavey@unhcr.org; Dalia Farran, Mine Action Coordination Centre of South Lebanon, Tyr, Lebanon, Tel. +961-3 517996, e-mail: farran@un.org